The REDD Rush in Indonesia

Abstract

"Globally, deforestation accounts for up to 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, or about 5.8 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent released into the atmosphere each year. This is more than the total emissions from the global transport sector. Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is a mechanism that proposes to use market/financial incentives to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation in a measurable and verifiable way. The basic concept is to set a market value for carbon that is not released into the atmosphere, comparing a theoretical baseline set according to historical deforestation trends, to savings achieved through improved forest management (i.e., reductions in conversion to non-forest uses, controlling illegal logging, etc.). ‘REDD-plus’ expands the scope of REDD beyond avoided deforestation and degradation to include forest restoration, rehabilitation, sustainable management and afforestation/reforestation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report proposed that reducing deforestation would have a large and rapid effect on reducing global carbon emissions (ibid)."